Those who know me well know that I’m not a football fan. Or soccer. Whatever you prefer. But I watched the last ten minutes of Spain’s match—my only ten minutes of the World Cup… yes, I know—and I was amazed. And happy, by the way. Beating Argentina is always fun. Especially after their famous “Devolvé la copa” a few years ago… But that’s not the point. The point is that, within five minutes, the internet was full of memes. Messi crying like a baby. Lamine Yamal—or Yamil, Yamile… you know I’m...
about 18 hours ago • 2 min read
As I was involved… I still look at it very closely. A multibillion-dollar bridge ready. Roads built. Border facilities prepared. And traffic still waiting. The opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Canada and the United States had to be postponed while both governments resolved a series of outstanding issues. Not construction issues. Interface issues. Don’t blame Trump. It’s deeper than that. People consistently underestimate in major infrastructure: The asset is not...
2 days ago • 1 min read
As Robert Kiyosaki once said: “Opportunities repeat themselves because people repeat the same mistakes.” Markets change. People don’t. New projects. Same optimism. New investors. Same herd behaviour. New PPPs. Same bad risk allocation. New SPVs. Same surprise when operations become a monster. The great advisers are not the ones chasing the hot market. They are the ones studying the repeated mistakes. Once you recognise the pattern, you stop being another consultant with opinions. You become...
3 days ago • 1 min read
Some time ago I talked about a kind of message. One like this one: "It’s interesting what you say, I even read you every day, but I would never buy anything from you because I don't believe I can learn what you know without going through what you've been through." OMG… And then, you wonder why there are adults that cannot tie their shoes… or get any success in life. I'll tell you something crazy: knowledge can be recorded. And another: it can be transmitted. And the last one: whatever you...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Most contractors enter a negotiation with the wrong assumption. They think: “The agency has the money. The agency has the power. The agency has the contract. So the agency has all the leverage.” Not in their dreams… In PPPs and major infrastructure projects, agencies also carry something very heavy: Loss aversion. They do not want a project failure. They do not want the Minister asking questions. They do not want the newspaper headline. They do not want the contractor collapsing. They do not...
5 days ago • 2 min read
January 2009. Tropicana, PepsiCo’s orange juice brand, was the undisputed leader in the US. Its flagship product, Pure Premium, was generating more than $700 million a year. A beautiful business. So what does a company do when everything is going really well? Sometimes, it overthinks. And screws it up. Someone in an office decided that the old packaging, the iconic orange with a straw stuck into it, was outdated. It needed to be modernised. It needed to be brought into the present. You know...
6 days ago • 2 min read
Look. Capital does not flow into PPPs because the project is important. Or because the Government wants it. Or because the infrastructure is badly needed. This is something many get wrong. Capital flows when the project makes sense. When revenues are clear. When risks sit with the parties best able to manage them. When governance works. When the financial model survives serious scrutiny. When the documents answer difficult questions before investors ask them. In summary, when money can...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Look. Leverage is not only what you can actually do. It is what the other side believes you can do. That matters. Especially in big infrastructure projects and SPVs. Every contractor, operator, supplier, authority and shareholder is constantly assessing two things: What can they gain? And what could they lose? Find that out, and you start negotiating properly. Not emotionally. Not aggressively. Properly. You understand what matters to them. You understand what they fear. And you use that...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Look. There are many boring industries. Infrastructure is one of them. PPPs are even worse. Long meetings. Technical reports. Risk registers. Governance papers. Contracts nobody wants to read. Very boring. Good. Boring markets are often gold mines. And you know my opinion on this too. The best PPP or major infrastructure project is usually boring too. No drama. No heroic recovery plan. No ministerial crisis. No contractor threatening to walk away. No board meeting that feels like a hostage...
9 days ago • 1 min read